Lawyer thought she would die

Press, 30 September 1986, Page 6

Lawyer thought she would die

PA Auckland A lawyer, Mrs Lorraine Smith, says she does not know the reason for a vicious attack at her Herne Bay home on Sunday evening. The attack put her husband in hospital with serious eye injuries and left her with a cracked shoul.der bone and bruises. Two men, wearing fullface crash helmets, forced their way into Mrs Smith’s home about 8.30 p.m. She said the men, one armed with a 15cm knife and the other with a baton, hit her husband about the head before throwing him on to a glass-topped coffee table. Mrs Smith said the men had said very little. She had asked, "What have I done?” but they

had not replied. Their only comment had been about "ripping the bloody telephone out” and a threat as they left that if the Smiths moved within 20 minutes they would come back and kill them. Mrs Smith said she was punched about the head by the men before being thrown to the floor on top of her husband. She said she could speculate on the reason for the attack but had no real idea of the motive. Last year Mrs Smith alleged that a policeman had made a video of her in her underwear while she was being searched before visiting a client in police cells. She has represented defendants in major drug trials.